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What is a Gaúcho?
The gaúcho was made into a state icon,
and appears associated to everything
related to the state of Rio Grande do
Sul, Brazil. The iconic, mythological
gaúcho was inspired – loosely, it can
Intersections between state,
identities and domination in
Southern Brazil
be argued – in the gaúcho riders and
ranch hands of the Campanha Gaúcha
grasslands close to the Brazilian
borders with Uruguay and Argentina. At
the same time, the long-term project
of domination promoted by the regional
elite efficiently managed to make these
gaúchos dependent on them.
Dr. Luciano CAMPELO BORNHOLDT
University of Manchester
[email protected]
Participating on the discussion on
national and regional identities in Brazil,
and also on the wider discussion about
identities and the construction of traditions, this article aims to analyse the
dynamics of elite ideology in the context
of complex processes of domination
on different levels. It engages in the
discussion on the articulation among
the State, different regional elites and
distinct strata of the regional population
in the South of Brazil.
[GAÚCHOS, BRAZIL,
IDENTITIES, ELITES,
DOMINATION]
The gaúcho was made into a state icon, and appears associated to everything Riograndian. The iconic, mythological gaúcho was inspired
-loosely, it can be argued- in the gaúcho riders of the Campanha grasslands close to the Brazilian borders with Uruguay and Argentina, today mostly poor ranch workers trying to make the best possible living
with the few opportunities available to them. The image of the gaúcho
ranch workers does not sell as much as that of their mythological
counterpart. In fact, the gaúchos themselves are hardly able to afford
much.
This article explores the similarities and differences between
the regional Gaúcho identity and being a gaúcho in the sense of being a campanha horseman. Gaúcho identity is widely associated to the
Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Every person born in the state
self-identifies as a Gaúcho, and the rest of the country identifies the
24 Luciano CAMPELO BORNHOLDT
Riograndians as Gaúchos, a regional identity based
on a partly imagined rural past. This process, nevertheless, is neither homogeneous nor lacking configuration by a variety of different interests. In its
use as definer of a regional identity that stands in
opposition to the identities of the rest of Brazil,
Gaúcho identity developed historically with the participation of different sectors of the state’s elite on
the creation of a mythological gaúcho, promoting a
certain image of the state and supporting both the
elite’s project of opposing the centralizing forces in
Brazilian politics and economy, and of preventing
possible resistance posed by the rural population,
in the last case by promoting a view of the rural
ranch hands -who could be called the “real” gaúchosas loyal to their patrões and hard working men. This
article will discuss the appropriation of regional history by the State in the creation of a regional identity. Through ethnographic data, I will analyse some
factors that contribute to the success of the myth
in the ranching region of Rio Grande do Sul, were
the ranch hands that served as inspiration for the
region’s identity appear in sharper contrast to their
mythological counterpart.
The interplay between states and people can
be particularly visible in some circumstances, helping to identify “the traces left by each upon the
other, by drawing attention to relations of power”
(Donnan and Wilson, 1999: 13). This can have a
role in correcting what the authors regard as a tendency to “over-emphasize the symbolic in the anthropology of relations between local communities,
ethnic groups and nations” (Donnan and Wilson,
1999: 13).
The discussion about power and identity is
closely related to a key question I attempt to answer
here, departing from what is considered by scholars
interested in the history and culture of the gaúcho
as one of the hardest ones to provide an answer to:
what is a gaúcho?
article
1. ON Gaúchos AND IDENTITIES
The term gaúcho itself, as well as its synonym gaudério, has been in use since the last quarter of the
eighteenth century in the Campanha of Rio Grande
do Sul, and with the variation gaucho in the neighbouring Argentine and Uruguayan Pampas. Gaúcho
at the time meant vagabond, specifically vagabond
horsemen that made a living by hunting wild cattle
for meat and skins, which they could trade illicitly.
According to Slatta (1997: 139) “the term implied
marginality and criminality, but by the nineteenth
century it broadened to include virtually all rural
horsemen who owned no land”.
In the twentieth century, the gaúcho/gaucho has
been promoted, beyond the geographical limits of
the campanha, to a positive icon of identity. The national identities of Argentina and Uruguay both address the gaucho, and in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul has
assumed a gaúcho identity.
The gaúcho identity, if we consider it as being
only one phenomenon, appears to be operating at
different levels. At one level, it defines Rio Grande
do Sul in opposition to the rest of Brazil. At another
level, it defines the Campanha region in opposition to
the rest of Rio Grande do Sul. Yet in reality, the use
of the word gaúcho in identity contexts can hardly be
understood as the application of the same mechanism to different although similar levels. I suggest
that there are at least two distinct social mechanisms
in play in different contexts, but before I examine
this possibility, I will present these contexts to the
reader, while trying to illuminate the way the gaúcho
identities are activated.
The relation between national/regional Gaúcho
identities, and being a gaúcho in the sense of being
a horseman does not stand out for its simplicity. As
suggested before by Slatta (1997: 138), “even defining the terms is as difficult as determining the social
realities encompassed by them.” And even if we forget about the different uses of the terms gaúcho and
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What is a Gaúcho? 25
gaucho in the past and concentrate only on current
uses, the difficulty in determining the social realities
encompassed by them suggests that it is by no means
an easy task to define what a gaúcho is. For reasons of
methodological choice and clarity, Slatta (1997: 139)
decided to use the term with the meaning of “rural
ranch workers of Rio Grande do Sul and Buenos
Aires Province.” I will show here that this starting
point leads to an interesting paradox. The Gaúcho is
an icon of identity and the patronymic of the state
of Rio Grande do Sul. There is also another use of
the term gaúcho, different from the first one not only
in scale, but in substance as well, which corresponds
to the ideas that rural ranch workers have about
themselves.
In Brazil, the use of gaúcho to refer to rural ranch
hands of the campanha becomes a signifier of Rio
Grande’s regional identity in the face of the more inclusive Brazilian national identity. Hence, in the eyes
of Brazil as a whole, every Riograndian is a gaúcho.
In the eyes of the rest of Rio Grande do Sul, anyone
from the Campanha region is a gaúcho. In the eyes
of the urban residents of the Campanha region, those
from the countryside are gaúchos. This could be seen
as a case of situational ethnicity (Banks,1996: 13), if it
were not for the fact that as we change contexts, what
defines a gaúcho seems to follow rules of completely
different orders. For the peões, gaúcho does not work as
a “reifying group name” (Banks, 1996), even though
it does work in that way for the inhabitants of the
state of Rio Grande do Sul as a whole. I will suggest
that this exercise of imagination and play of identities
is made possible by the existence of a mythological
gaúcho, symbolically attached to what we could call
the “real gaucho”, the ranch hands of the campanha.
At a certain point, at least up to the early twentieth century, the national affiliations in the grasslands
close to the -at the time disputed- borders between
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay were relatively flexible, apt to be bent and adjusted. Those families of
Brazilian origin building a life on the Uruguayan side
of the border could use different national affiliations
according to the context and to their personal perspectives. The brothers Aparicio and Gumercindo
Saravia, for example, famous for their armed insurgencies in both countries, claimed respectively
Uruguayan and Brazilian nationalities, and they
had important political roles in different countries.
According to Chasteen (1995: 54), “Gumercindo
Saravia could claim Brazilian nationality because he
was born at a time when Rio Grandenses like his
parents took their children to be baptized in Brazil
and because his baptism was a matter of institutional
record.” One could be Brazilian or Uruguayan, depending on the situation. Many Brazilian families
acquired lands on the Uruguayan side of the border.
Chasteen (1995: 102) notes that:
“For them, the perils and opportunities of borderland life went hand in hand. This was, after all, what
had first attracted (a specific) family to Uruguay in the
previous generation. The early land speculators of
the Uruguayan side of the borderland had bought
and sold their huge tracts so cheaply at the dawn of
the nineteenth century precisely because these properties were so hazardous to occupy.”
The view of the horsemen´s social identity as
a phenomenon of the same kind as the contemporary regional identity demands from scholars possible explanations to its specific configuration with all
the other identities at play in the region. Hartmann
(2004: 140), for instance, suggests that there is a
common identity uniting the frontier groups, and
that this can be perceived especially from oral narratives. The author also points out that this frontier
identity does not obscure national identities, but allows their coexistence and shifting according to the
context. Nevertheless, through the analysis of scholarly production on regional Gaúcho identity, followed
by a discussion of some things that define a gaúcho in
the campanha, I suggest that gaúcho is not simply some
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26 Luciano CAMPELO BORNHOLDT
kind of frontier ethnic identity, but is instead a social
phenomenon different from the regional identity that
borrows the same term and tries to identify with it.
While the myth of the gaúcho is alive and well,
there is another gaúcho, also very much alive, in the
Campanha Gaúcha. What I suggest here is that the regional Gaúcho identity in the state of Rio Grande do
Sul has one constitutive mechanism, while being a
gaúcho, for the peões and general rural inhabitants of
the campanha, has another, completely different, constitutive mechanism. One clue that points to this possibility lies in the processes through which a regional
Gaúcho identity was created, recreated and appropriated by different actors in different political contexts
and moments in history.
2. (RE) CREATION OF THE Gaúcho:
ORIGINS OF THE MYTH AND ITS
APPROPRIATIONS
2.1. Appropriating history: the state and the
creation of a regional identity
One of the main icons of regional Gaúcho identity in
Rio Grande do Sul is the Farroupilha Revolution, whose
insurgents managed to resist the Brazilian Empire
from 1835 to 1845. Later, it would be used again
and again to support certain political and ideological
claims. The Farroupilha Week (Semana Farroupilha) is
the main celebration of Gaúcho culture and identity,
and of a particular interpretation of Gaúcho history.
Every year, in the week that precedes and culminates
on the twentieth of September (the anniversary of
the revolution), the whole state -and Riograndians
gathered elsewhere- mobilize in festivities, mass rides
and events. The importance of Gauchism can be seen
clearly in these celebrations, which mobilize thousands of people throughout the state every year, in a
full week of parades on horseback, gaúcho barbecues,
article
rodeos and dances. “No governor of the state would
fail to pay homage to gaúcho tradition at this time of
year” (Shirley, 1991: 207). It seems clear that the
movement has a political character. As a movement,
it is by no means the only political force in the region,
but it certainly remains a political resource for many
candidates in state and local government (Shirley,
1991: 207). Its importance is such in the state that a
friend and informant from Dom Pedrito left a message in my Orkut page, a networking website similar
to MySpace or Facebook, telling me that he thought
that I would travel there from England for the celebrations of the Semana Farroupilha.
The Farroupilha Revolution was reinterpreted
more than once in the history of the region, and its
symbolic values appropriated by the state and other institutions. In the first instance, the Farroupilha
Revolution can be seen as an armed insurgency of
the landed elites of Rio Grande do Sul against the
authoritarian power of the Brazilian Empire established with independence from Portugal in 1822.
The so-called revolution answered to the interests
of the ranchers of southern Rio Grande do Sul, and
the rancher´s elite managed to keep the masses at the
margin of the movement (Maestri, 2003). It was not
the only regional revolt during that period. It was one
amongst many, such as the Balaiada in Maranhão
and the Cabanagem in Grão-Pará1, part of the centrifugal forces that, were it not for the authoritarian
imperial regime, could have led Portuguese Latin
America to the same kind of fragmentation faced by
Spanish Latin America.
Although the leaders of the movement managed
to resist and control parts of the state for ten years,
from 1835 to 1845, claiming the foundation of a
Riograndian Republic, they never managed to secure
the support of the capital city, the immigrants, the
1
The main difference lies in the popular participation in
the Balaiada and the Cabanagem revolutions, driven by the
precarious conditions in which the population lived, while the
Farroupilha Revolution attended solely the interests of the
landholding elite (Maestri, 2003).
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What is a Gaúcho? 27
urban population and the traders. Their programme
was liberal but shaped to address the needs of a large
estate economy.
Slaves and peões formed the bulk of the revolutionary army, and this has led some historians to
claim that the movement was strongly socially inclusive. The equality between all men in war and the
abolitionist aspect of the Farroupilha Revolution have
been promoted as an important part of the myth of
the gaúcho and of the formation of regional identity,
but contemporary historiography has been questioning these assumptions (Maestri, 2003), finding convincing data that supports a different image, one that
includes forced military service and the delivery of
the Farroupilha’s own black infantry to be massacred
by the imperial forces as a token for securing peace
between the local ranching elite and the Empire.
Maestri suggests that in the decades following
the separatist war factions of the Riograndian elites,
the historical meaning of the Farroupilha Revolution
was redefined using the social inability of the movement to adapt its memory to the promotion of their
own distinct political objectives. The urban elite and
the middle classes manipulated the memory of the
Farroupilha Revolution to the point of recreating the
rebellion as an abolitionist movement, an interpretation that would have been repudiated by the slave
owners that led this separatist war of half a century
earlier (Maestri, 2003).
Just before the proclamation of the Republic in
Brazil in 1889, the Riograndian republican leader
Júlio de Castilhos proposed the public celebration of
the twentieth of September, the date of the Farroupilha
Revolution. Not much later, Rio Grande do Sul experienced a new revolution, that of 1893-1895. The
Federalist Revolution was one of the most violent
civil wars in Brazil, marked by the frequency of execution of prisoners by both sides through throatcutting (degola). The federalist revolutionary leaders,
mostly ranchers from the Campanha region, contested
the office of Castilhos in the state’s government and
the state’s Constitution in the period of definitions
that succeeded the Republic. The outcome of the revolution strengthened the ruling group of the PRR,
the Riograndian Republican Party (Partido Republicano
Riograndense) of Castilhos. The symbolic heritage of
the Farroupilha Revolution ceased to be an asset of
the landed elite, and was appropriated by the positivism of the PRR, with its aspects of autonomy and republicanism emphasized (Maestri, 2003). In this new
version, according to Maestri, the Farroupilha memory was reinterpreted as the heritage of all southern
people, be it black or white, rich or poor, from the
coast or the pampa, in a manipulation of history that
presented the Republican movement as that of the
whole population against the central State. The myth
of the unity of the population in the struggle for a
unitary, republican and federalist ideal was an important trend in a process that made “history to evanesce behind the myth” (Maestri, 2003). Later, this
myth was to be given a voice in the mythological gaúcho, disconnected from his living relative through the
stripping of the social reality of rural class relations.
2.2. Evolution of the myth of the gaúcho
Unlike many other Brazilian state capitals, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, was not the
home of absentee landowners who, in fact, lived in
the campanha, with many spending stretches of time in
Europe. Porto Alegre was home to bureaucrats, traders and liberals (Shirley, 1991). Its elite, an urban and
positivist one, managed to promote the association of
a rural image -one that could be more easily associated with the contrasting interests of the ranching elite
in the campanha- with the state, in order to give to its
modernizing and political projects an image of social
unity. It is worthy of note that a famous Riograndian,
Getúlio Vargas, a member of PRR since his youth,
was to be responsible in the 1930s for a nationalization campaign that aimed to suppress regional feelings and affiliations and to promote a nationalist
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28 Luciano CAMPELO BORNHOLDT
ideology through an authoritarian regime. As part of
this process, the samba music genre of the kind that
had emerged in Rio de Janeiro was adopted as a defining element of Brazilian identity (brasilidade). It was
part of the new interest in all things Brazilian that
followed the 1930’s revolution. According to Vianna
(1999: 118),
“that orthodoxy converted samba, the product of
interaction among very different social groups, into
an agent of internal ‘colonization’. A national music
born of indefinition came to define the rule, the only
way of being authentically Brazilian. (...) Other ways
of being Brazilian have always existed anyway. And
they always will exist.”
The problem facing the State, when attempting
a full centralization through, among other projects,
the formation of a national consciousness, is “how
to convince these many oppositional groups to abandon their local identities, and to join the community
of the nation” (Nugent, 1997: 08-09). In Rio Grande
do Sul, Vargas’ nationalization campaign had partial
success, or perhaps achieved a complex accommodation. After Vargas’ dictatorship, Riograndian identity arranged itself in a way in which Riograndians
can only be Brazilian if they are gaúchos first (Oliven,
2000).
Oliven (2000: 1996) identifies the 1930s as the
point in which the gaúcho as an icon of identity started
to play a major role in the definition of the place of
Rio Grande do Sul in relation to Brazil, as a response
to the increasing economical and administrative centralization promoted by the State. Nevertheless, the
nationalization campaign promoted by Vargas in
the same period in fact represented a serious blow
to the regional affiliation promoted in Rio Grande
do Sul during the Old Republic, although according
to Maestri (2003) gaúcho identity kept a strong grip
in local contexts in the form of a romanticized reading of pastoral life. According to Maestri (2003), the
article
regional elites accepted the new situation, worried
about losing their regional dominance.
After World War II, and especially after the
populist era of the 1950s, the Brazilian federal government, located first in Rio de Janeiro and later in
Brasília, projected a period of rapid industrialization.
Brasília was a major part of that plan, and aimed to
propel the development of Central Brazil by locating
the new capital city there. Juscelino Kubitschek’s office planned a period of rapid growth in what was
called the National Development Plan, also known as
“fifty years in five”. Progress towards a socially conservative modernization was accentuated even more
after 1964, under military rule. Cities such as São
Paulo became industrial cities and regional industrial
centres, attaining important economic, cultural and
political power. The rural interests of the landowning elite found themselves fighting to maintain their
wealth and privilege in this context (Shirley, 1991:
202; Oliven, 2000). In the face of the decreasing
importance of the state in the national scenario, regionalist movements reaffirming Southern specificity
started to regain strength. When a regional identity
was forged in Rio Grande do Sul, it was in certain
respects in opposition to the centre that this identity
developed, and Shirley (1991) even argues that the
Gaúcho “nation” is a by-product of the Brazilian national symbolic culture that has developed since the
last century. Oliven (2000) gives a slightly broader
explanation, suggesting that Gauchism was a result
of a growing centralization, not only culturally or
symbolically but also economically and politically.
The author places the Gaúcho identity in a conjunction of tendencies that are contrary to this process,
“tendencies that manifest themselves through the
affirmation of regional identities, with Rio Grande
do Sul serving as an expressive example” (Oliven,
2000: 122). Although it is not only in the Brazilian
symbolical field that we can find its driving forces,
these tendencies do manifest themselves through the
promotion of regional identity and regional tradition.
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What is a Gaúcho? 29
These movements appropriated the ranching past
of the state as an idealized and utopian Pampean
Golden Age (Maestri, 2003). This choice was probably related to the opposition to the more industrialized Southeast of the country, that from then on
became the undisputed economic centre of Brazil.
Maestri (2003) suggests that the already hegemonic
industrial capital of Rio Grande do Sul supported the
traditionalist model despite its pastoral associations
simply because the ranching capital did not pose a
threat to its hegemony anymore.
In the social construction of the Gaúcho identity,
there are strong elements that refer to a mythical
glorious past, where the gaúcho has the central role.
This image refers to the cattle-ranching region of
the Campanha in south-west Rio Grande do Sul and
to the real or idealized figure of the gaúcho (Oliven,
2000; 1996). The gaúcho in Rio Grande do Sul, as
in Argentina, was deemed a hero only long after he
ceased to be a military threat. The revolutionary battles ended by 1930, when Getúlio Vargas became the
Brazilian president, disarming the private gaúcho armies and even prohibiting the carrying of guns in public. “Thus the gaúcho could be symbolically fabricated
without running the risk of reviving an armed popular movement in the interior of the state” (Shirley,
1991: 203). In the past, or more accurately in the
popular memory, the Farroupilha Revolution (18351845) appears as the reaction of Rio Grande do Sul
in the context of the privileges given to the Southeast
by the crown. Later and today, opposition against
centralizing forces is no longer expressed in the tradition of the Farroupilha Revolution, but through the expression of cultural difference, standing in opposition
to the influences of the means of mass communication, very often originating in Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo. And it is almost inevitable that this process of
identity construction should refer to the rural past
or, to the same effect, to a “rural elsewhere” existing
only in the urban imaginations, making the gaúcho
the distinguishing emblem of the state (Oliven, 2000:
123). Moreover, some local and regional authors,
such as Golin, cited by Shirley (Golin, 1983 cited in
Shirley, 1991: 216), have opposed the traditionalist
movement responsible for promoting this idealized
version of the past, arguing that it “deliberately falsifies gaúcho history to create an ideology glorifying
military hierarchy and patronage in order to preserve
the power of the landed elite of Rio Grande do Sul”.
This interpretation seems plausible, in the sense that
although the traditionalist movement was not created
by members of the landed elite but by intellectuals
not linked to the academy, it was welcomed both by
the landed elite and the state.
Maestri (2003) suggests that the creation myth
of Rio Grande do Sul represented a pastoral democracy. This myth was appreciated and appropriated
by the ranching elites of the Campanha. In a strange
land without evil, food was plenty and labour was
free and non-compulsory, while the peão was more
of a friend to his patrão than a subordinated worker.
In my fieldwork in Dom Pedrito, the recollection of
history changes in an interesting manner according
to who is telling it. Even with urban elites appropriating gaúcho identity, the local ranching elite gladly
absorbed this mythological construction of the past,
using it to measure the changes brought about by
modernization and socioeconomical changes. Seu
Remi, a rancher in his early sixties, was very keen
to tell me how things were before labour legislation
“spoilt it all”:
“There are many social laws that protect the worst
element and harm the good one. Before those laws,
the good peão was favoured. Those who work together, alongside each other, are not as much patrão
and worker as they are partners. Unfortunately, it is
all becoming like a factory. It favours the ordinary,
the vagabond, and harms the good one. Before, there
was loyalty on one side, and protection on the other.
If something happened in the city, the patrão would
put his wing over the peão to protect him from the
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30 Luciano CAMPELO BORNHOLDT
law. The saddest of all is that patrão and peão are
moving away from each other.”
Nevertheless, it may be claimed that this proximity, this friendship in a relationship in which labour was given freely in exchange for favour and
protection, was never real to this or to any extent.
The same informant told me that slavery did not
exist in the ranches. Surprised by his suggestion, I
could not refrain from asking about the black peões I
have met. He said that there was slavery, but the kind
of work that took place on the ranches supposed the
use of horses and knives, so there needed to be trust
between patrão and peão, and besides, the life of the
patrão could depend on the peão as much as the other
way around, so they were equal. This exemplifies the
egalitarian ideology that is part of the myth of the
gaúcho.
However, if someone cares to ask people in different social positions about history and their memories, the picture appears quite different. I was driving through the periphery of Dom Pedrito, hoping
to locate a possible informant from the part of the
countryside known as Ponche Verde. I ended up
in a small mechanic shop, actually an open garage
with an earthen floor. While I waited for the barking of the dogs to call the attention of someone in
the adjoining house, I deduced from the age of the
two cars parked there that this small shop probably
depended on services offered to customers living in
the immediate vicinity. Luiz Mário came out of the
house, no sign yet of the toothless smile that would
be so present during the rest of our conversation, telling me not to worry, because the dogs would not
bite. I learned from our conversation that yes, he was
from Ponche Verde, but had moved to the city some
twenty years ago, after his wedding. In everything
he told me, what impressed me the most were his
recollections of the balls in the countryside. A Room
Master (Mestre de sala) would collect all the guns, and
from time to time would spill water over the earthen
article
floor for the dust to settle down. “Of course”, he told
me, “there were balls for fair skinned people and
balls for black people” (Há bailes de moreno e bailes de
branco). According to him, a black man would never
dare to try and enter a room where a baile de branco
was taking place, under risk of being lynched. The
same was true for the opposite situation, and a white
man in a baile de moreno would face the same fate. The
idealistic version of Riograndian history promoted
by the Traditionalist Movement and supported by
the local ranching elite seems indeed to be very fragile, notwithstanding its wide acceptance. So much for
racial democracy in the campanha.
Historiography of Rio Grande do Sul has been
finding plentiful support for the suggestion that this
racial and social democracy was anything but real, as
could be suspected (see for instance Maestri, 2003;
Cardoso, 1962). The existence of slavery in the campanha stains the mythological history of the state, and
in that sense the story told in traditionalism cleansed
the racial history of the campanha. The CTGs -Centres
for Gaúcho Traditions (Centros de Tradições Gaúchas)controlled by the Gaúcho Traditionalist Movement,
claim to follow the social structure of the estâncias,
with its members organizing its administration in
the roles of peões and patrões, but interestingly enough
there are no slaves.
In order to attract the public and to construct
a movement based on a social and historical figure,
an ideology was created from the gaúcho. In the creation of this myth, according to Shirley (1991), Oliven
(2000) and others, the intellectuals of the Movement
have systematically censored Rio Grande do Sul
history: slavery and Indian wars were eliminated.
Shirley states that “although all history distorts, gaúcho Traditional historiography distorts painfully. It
was necessary to create an image of the gaúcho and
his society that denied his origins, his social position,
and his independence” (1991: 203). Hence, the myth
of the gaúcho was carefully constructed, and he was
portrayed not as a poor herder, living a dangerous
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What is a Gaúcho? 31
and dirty life, but as something much more appealing: he was praised as free, yet honest and loyal to
his patron, a skilled man, even a hero in the official
accounts of regional wars.
Although both Oliven (1996; 2000) and Shirley
(1991) imply that the creation of the myth of the gaúcho and its promotion as an icon of regional identity
was the work of a state elite, I believe it is necessary to understand the different roles played by different groups. Not only the groups involved in the
formation of the myth, but also the way in which
local ranching elites, intellectuals and the state itself
accepted and collaborated in the promotion of the
myth of the gaúcho as an icon.
The long process by which the gaúcho passes
from his partially independent way of life as a wild
cattle hunter to a dependent peão (Slatta, 1983) had
its coronation in the transformation of the gaúcho into
a symbol of valiant submission in the service of the
state.
In this sense, the gaúcho was not only promoted
as a positive icon of identity. The state successfully
managed to transform the people that once resisted
its control into a symbol of the state itself. This long
process encompassed the Land Law of 1850, which
commoditized land, and “sought to eradicate the
practice of squatting on unused public land” (Pessar,
2004: 24). This was in the interest of the ranching
elite because it represented an important step toward greater proletarization of the local population,
which could no longer ensure its economic survival through the use of free land. The local population became dependent on the landed elite, providing them with cheaper and more available labour.
Furthermore, it represented another step on the process of opening the pampas for capitalist exploitation,
as in the expansion against the indigenous population in Argentina (Rowe and Schelling, 1991: 29).
Slatta (1983) suggests that the lack of gaúchos willing
to work as peões raised constant complaints from the
ranchers in Argentina, who managed to promote the
creation of laws making the semi-nomadic and relatively independent life of the gauchos increasingly difficult, such as hunting prohibitions and compulsory
army service. In the Campanha Gaúcha of Rio Grande
do Sul this complaint of lack of men willing to take
employment in estâncias is currently once again very
much alive in the everyday discourse of the ranchers. With modernization, other work opportunities
were made available, while changes in the organization of estâncias´ work means that peões feel that ranch
work has become harder and a less desirable option.
The rural exodus to urban areas in Brazil since the
1950s and especially the 1960s further decreased the
number of workers available to the ranches. Rowe
and Schelling suggest that major technological and
social changes in the pampa “brought about the disappearance of the gaucho as a distinct cultural entity
and his integration into national society” (Rowe and
Schelling, 1991: 32).
The process of transformation of the gaúcho into
an iconic symbol for the state and the elite in Rio
Grande do Sul had parallels with the similar process in Argentina. According to Rowe and Schelling
(1991: 31) the gaucho was used as a vehicle for the
construction of a natural consciousness. Literature
in Argentina gave a voice to the gaucho as a personage that reflected ideas related to the European
Enlightenment, such as fatherland (pátria) and liberty, presenting them as if they belonged to the popular
voice.
The spread of Centros Criollos in Argentina was
linked to a new cultural archive “of the working class
and those parts of the petty bourgeoisie living at its
fringes” (Rowe and Schelling, 1991: 35). This suggestion led me to ask if what Oliven identifies as the state
elite could not be better categorized as a petty bourgeoisie at the fringes? Oliven himself is very clear in
that the intellectuals that founded the Traditionalist
Movement in Rio Grande do Sul were not part of the
mainstream, or linked to the academy or other official institutions. Oliven seems to align with Gellner’s
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(1997) ideas about the role of an intelligentsia linked
to a literate high culture in the genesis of a national
identity -as well as with Anderson’s (1983) stress on
the importance of the printing press. The sum of these
perspectives help to support my suggestion that the
Gaúcho state identity has not developed from a gaúcho
ethnic identity that could be found in the peões of the
campanha. Gellner, like Anderson, does not see ethnicity as a sufficient, or even necessary factor in the rise
of nationalism (Banks, 1996: 129) -or regionalism, in
our case. Regional Gaúcho identity did not develop
from some pre-existing gaúcho ethnic identity. It was
created in a specific process from outside the social
realities of the campanha.
It is interesting to note that Oliven (1996; 2000)
associates the very beginning of the Movement with
rural immigrants to urban areas and with the members of the petty bourgeoisie. A form of rural nostalgia must have played a major role in that process, in
a period, the 1950s, marked by a fleeting process of
modernization promoted by the Brazilian state. The
landed elite of the state embraced the Movement and
the version of the myth of the gaúcho it promoted because it reproduced and reinforced an ideology of
hierarchy and social order. This ideology reinforced
the position of the state, attending its own and the
landowners’ mutual interest in the further regulation
of the work force against the diminishing independence of the gaúcho.
“The true gaúcho of the campanha is an ignoramus”, a rancher confided to me in an afternoon at his
house. During his youth, this same rancher had travelled throughout Europe and could speak English,
some Italian and Spanish (although he learned this
last language mostly in neighbouring Uruguay). A
characteristic of the Brazilian modernizing project was
the search, by the elites, for inspiration in European
liberal ideas. The ranchers of the Campanha were particularly influenced by European Cosmopolitanism,
and identified with the Parisian lifestyle, in what Rowe
and Schelling (1991: 38) characterize as a “negation
article
of any element of popular culture which disturbed
the civilized image of the dominant society.”
The Brazilian modernizing project, as in Latin
America as a whole (Rowe and Schelling, 1991:
38-39), relied on the adoption of a particular set
of European models. Order and Progress (Ordem e
Progresso), the motto of the Brazilian flag, is emblematic of the Brazilian governing elites’ view of modernization from above as the answer to the issue of
civilization and modernization of Brazil (Rowe and
Schelling, 1991: 39).
Nevertheless, the rural workers and small
ranchers have managed to keep part of the dispute
on their own terrain, by insisting on maintaining the
discussion in other terms. Their focus on skills related to their way of life -and indispensable to the
ranching business that finances the ranchers’ cosmopolitanism- produced a resistance to the hegemonic
project of the local and regional elites. To be able to
deal with the peões, providers of much needed labour,
the dominant elite had to make concessions, and skill
continues to be the touchstone by which peões negotiate their value, in terms of the need their patrões have
for them, given the rancher’s “lack of skill”.
2.3. The Gaúcho Traditionalist Movement
Contemporaneously, the Gaúcho Traditionalist
Movement (Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho or MTG)
secures what is probably the strongest position in
the field in which Gaúcho identity and tradition are
negotiated and defined. According to Oliven (2000;
1996), they are the oldest actors in Gauchism, although one could dispute this affirmative based on
the central role played by political groups and later
by the state in the promotion of a Gaúcho regional
identity. Nevertheless, the MTG has a key role in
Gaúcho traditionalism, a role recognized even by the
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What is a Gaúcho? 33
state2. They try to exercise control over the symbolic
goods of the state. There is a constant preoccupation
with establishing parameters and separating the pure
from the impure in everything that relates to Gaúcho
“tradition” (Oliven, 2000).
Shirley and Oliven agree that the state elite had
a major role in the creation of the myth from the
actual gaúcho. To Shirley, the Rio Grande do Sul elite
have used the myth of the gaúcho to build a feeling
of nationality and political legitimacy, a position to
stand against the Brazilian national elite, especially
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Shirley, 1991: 200).
The traditionalist movement is, in the words of
Shirley (1991: 200), a weapon in the struggle of the
political elite of Rio Grande do Sul against that of
Brazil “and, indeed, the modern industrial world”. A
stand based on symbollic grounds, as we have seen,
given that even the regionally hegemonic industrial
capital of the State’s Capital city embraced Gaúcho
identity. The characteristics of the emerging regional
identity were associated with ideas opposed to those
of a centralized Brazilian nation. It promoted ideas of
regional autonomy and of a specific culture presented as a support for an identity that could not simply
be absorbed -or substituted- by national culture and
identity, which were in fact being created from the
financial and industrial centre that was the Southeast
of the country. This culture, as it was advocated, carried references to the rural origins of Rio Grande do
Sul, offering resistance to the modernizing and centralizing projects of the national elite that threatened
part of the regional elite of the state.
Thus, traditionalism represents different interests and has been appropriated as a part of projects of
different actors. It represents a certain rural nostalgia
2
The Law of the Pilcha, for instance, defines that the pilcha
Gaúcha -traditional gaúcho clothes and attire- is accepted as part
of the dress code for official state ceremonies and public events,
as long as it complies with the standards defined by the MTG.
Another example is the celebrations of the anniversary of the
Farroupilha Revolution, organized by the state government with
a strong participation of the MTG.
for part of the population, a distinct site where some
power may be exercised by a regional intelligentsia, in opposition to the intellectual circles of the
Southeast, and it is also used by the state political
class, both to support its hegemonic project in Rio
Grande do Sul and to stake its political claims in the
national scenario. Traditionalism and the promotion
of a regional Gaúcho identity is therefore a complex
phenomenon, one that has its ambiguities in its promotion and acceptance by different social actors. In
the macro, national context of interactions, Shirley
indicates that Gaúcho identity originated in the tension between region and centre, in the hostility to
São Paulo and the rest of Brazil, finding in the oncedespised gaúcho a ready-made symbol of regional integration and local independence. Nevertheless, while
Shirley locates the origins of contemporary Gaúcho
identity in the opposition between centre and region,
Oliven (2000: 203) argues that the integration in national identity is made possible only through regional
identity. Despite the fact that parts of their arguments
follow parallel lines, this is a significant point of difference worth considering. While one departs from
an idea of national unity towards a model of centreperiphery, the other focuses on national integration
through regional identity. The core of Oliven’s position in the discussion about regional identity in the
state of Rio Grande do Sul is that “what is happening
(…) seems to indicate that today, for the Gaúcho, the
national is realized through the regional. That is, the
people of Rio Grande do Sul can only be Brazilian if
they are Gaúcho first” (Oliven, 2000: 123).
The construction of regional identities in contemporary Brazil, Oliven stresses (2000: 123), goes
through the development and appropriation of features in Brazilian culture that are used as diacritical
marks, conferring a mark of distinction on different
social groups. The process of selection of traits and
elements to compose “gaúcho culture and folklore”,
promoted as a tradition upon which regional identity
would be built, was marked by the existence of an
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institution that sought to define what is gaúcho culture, and what it is to be a gaúcho.
The context in Brazil for the institutionalization
of the Gaúcho identity in a movement was the context
of the military and political opening, in the 1980s,
when democracy was once again established in the
country (Oliven, 2000; 1996). This political opening
was not only in terms of political parties, but also of
social movements and organizations of civil society,
and at this moment the movement toward the Gaúcho
identity grew stronger. Nevertheless, we can find its
roots much earlier, in the 1950s. In the year 1949,
two of the founders of the first modern centre for
Gaúcho tradition in Brazil, called “35 CTG” (Centro
de Tradições Gaúchas), attended the Tradition Day
in Montevideo, Uruguay. According to them, in
contrast to what they had seen in Montevideo, they
were disillusioned by the death of musical and choreographic themes in Rio Grande do Sul. The solution
adopted was to begin to invent traditions, dances and
songs. They were able to create a full presentation
the following year in Rio Grande do Sul (Oliven,
2000: 111-112).
Today there are museums in several major
Riograndian cities, private presses devoted to the
theme, publishing poetry, romances and historical accounts, and also critiques of the movement (Shirley,
1991).
This strong notion of tradition, present not only
in the core of the field of representations dominated
by the MTG but as well in the definition of Gaúcho regional identity itself, can be used as a route of access
to differences between specific uses of the term gaúcho
in the social definition of different groups.
3. Tradition
What is the relation between identity and tradition?
Must every identity always refer to a corresponding
idea of tradition? I do not believe this is the case.
article
Tradition usually refers to a set of ideas and/or practices legitimized by the idea of authenticity. Thus,
there may be practices considered to be authentic,
legitimized by a supposed continuity with the past,
in opposition to other practices considered not to be
authentic.
Nevertheless, not all manifestations of identity
are based upon an idea of authenticity, driven by a
diacritical gaze upon social life and its past. Identity
can be drawn from ideas of body substance, for example. The culturally variable relation between tradition and identity, although possible and even frequent, is not obligatory. As an example, we can take
for instance the case analysed by Buckser (1995),
in which the author compares two Danish religious
movements of the nineteenth century. While for one
of them identity relied heavily on the idea of continuity with the past, for the other group’s identity the
main characteristic was the creation of meaning that
could help make everyday life more bearable.
Furthermore not only its contents, but the idea
of tradition in itself may be considered a native category. In fact, as we will see, analysing tradition as a
native category is what provides the key to the comprehension of the role played by that notion on the
construction and maintenance of a specific identity.
Moreover, as it is in the case studied here, it is the approach of the notion of tradition as a culturally variable one that allows the comparison of and distinction
between two different phenomena, commonly taken
for renderings of the same phenomenon at different
levels. What is it to be a gaúcho? Do we arrive at the
same answer both in the case of the Gaúcho identity
associated with the population of Rio Grande do Sul
and in the case of the Campanha Gaúcha, especially if
we consider the rural population of peões and owners
of small plots of land, in an existence economically
linked to cattle ranching?
Perhaps the key question is: does the idea of a
tradition play the same role in both cases? Scholarly
definitions of tradition are problematic. According to
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What is a Gaúcho? 35
McDonald (1997: 48) the term has been retained by
scholars throughout the twentieth century, although
shifting its meaning for their own theoretical purpose.
I will concentrate on the ethnographic aspect, thus
distancing my argument from problematic academic
definitions of tradition. This is in a sense the instrumental approach suggested by the author, in opposition to an approach that would describe tradition as
an onthological phenomenon.
Tradition has been reified both by natives and
scholars as a historical object. Later, the articulation of
history with tradition has been addressed for instance
by Hobsbawm (1983), who distinguishes between
genuine and invented traditions, somewhat helping to disentangle tradition from history3. Linnekin
(1983) takes this idea even further, suggesting that
not some, but all traditions are invented. It is widely
understood in contemporary anthropology and correlated fields that to live according to tradition does
not mean living “as in the past”, but living according
to an accepted and socially legitimized version of the
past, or sometimes indeed a totally constructed past.
McDonald (1997) argues that the low heuristic
value of tradition offers strong grounds for abandoning it. I agree that the concept of tradition has no heuristic value per se. Its usefulness, however, depends
on the category of tradition or another similar category being used or not by the social group in question, in terms of a native category or organizing view
of the world. This is not the case for the peões.
Toren (1988) draws our attention to the existence of “culture-specific notions of tradition”. If we
accept this, it is reasonable to accept that a concept of
tradition or another similar concept may or may not
3
Briggs (1996) analyses the concept of tradition from the
perspective of the conflict between researcher and the native
-native scholars included- that perceives tradition as his own.
This perception has led to the development of native critiques
that identify the researchers with legitimizers of discursive
domination. Views such as Hobsbawm’s, that consider that
some traditions are invented while others are not, put the
researcher in a position to judge which traditions are invented
and which are legitimate.
be held by any social group. The contents of the category of a specific tradition are variable and therefore
culturally created. In fact, the concept itself is also
created, and must be studied from this perspective.
If not seen as a native category, it will be unwarily
projected by the social scientist over the subjects as
if it made part of their own world view. McDonald
(1997) supports the view that the idea of authenticity
is a part of the anthropological discourse, in fact a
projection of western world categories over the others that we study, proposing to use the concept of
tradition as instrumental, not ontological.
The existence of native notions of tradition -or
relative lack thereof- is one clue that points to the different characteristics of regional Gaúcho identity in the
state of Rio Grande do Sul versus being a gaúcho, for
the peões and general rural inhabitants of the campanha. While the notion of tradition plays a central role
in the workings of the Gaúcho regional identity, it has
little or no place in the world view of the countryside
gaúchos and in their experience of what it means to be
a gaúcho. It is impossible to exaggerate the confusion
created by the fact that the term gaúcho is applied to
different people, with different meanings, but for the
remainder of my argument the key point is that it can
be said that there are the Riograndians in general,
using Gaúcho as a patronymic, and there are the rural
inhabitants of the campanha countryside, who use the
term gaúcho as an adjective turned noun. To the latter,
to be a gaúcho is to be fluent in certain skills, to experience the world in a certain way. The matter is further
confused by the existence of a mythological gaúcho
that functions as the base of the Riograndian identity; and this mythological gaúcho is confused with the
countryside gaúcho.
The Riograndian Gaúchos and the campanha
countryside gaúchos deal differently with the idea of
tradition. The Riograndians build their identity upon
an accepted gaúcho tradition, defined and policed by
“intellectuals” that claim control over the definition
into categories of purity and impurity (Oliven, 2000).
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In the Rio Grande do Sul context, tradition is a term
often used to explain who they are and why they are
as they are. The symbols associated with this idea of
a Gaúcho identity rooted in the past play a central role
in their experience of the world and in their positioning in relation to the rest of Brazil. The diacritical
marks are drawn especially from the mythical gaúcho,
his clothes, dances, music, habits, accent and expressions, and although they are not performed all the
time, they can always be evoked to explain why they
are as they are. In televised advertising for example,
the regional accent is exploited and even exaggerated
to create a rapport with the audience and to create an
identification of the product with Rio Grande do Sul.
The advertising campaigns of Polar beer, produced
and sold in Rio Grande do Sul, use the fact that this
product cannot be bought anywhere else in the country as a selling point, with actors speaking in a strong
regional accent in humorous situations that play on
the contrasts between Rio Grande do Sul and the rest
of the country, putting the former in a more positive
light.
As we will see in the last section of this article,
the peões and small gaúcho ranchers -not to be confused
with the ranchers that hire peões- of the campanha have
a completely different way of understanding their
place in the world, compared to the Riograndian
Gaúchos, and the notion of tradition does not have a
central place in the way they experience the world.
This is a crucial point that allows us to differentiate
Riograndian regional identity from the countryside
gaúchos as separate phenomena. Nevertheless, the
peões do get involved in activities promoted by the
state, MTG or other actors as a celebration of the
mythological gaúcho and his culture.
4. “Real-life” gaúchos
Beyond its use as a methodological tool to understand
the relation between region and centre in Brazil, the
article
study of Gaúcho regional identity and its wide acceptance can be used for a better comprehension of the
elite role in the region, the role of the gaúcho in this
symbolic process, and the role of the gaúcho in the
economical and political life of the campanha.
Tradition, according to Linnekin (1983: 241) “is
not a coherent body of customs, lying “out there” to
be discovered, but an a priori model that shapes individual and group experience and is, in turn, shaped
by it.” Hence, it is important to note the difference
between the value given to the notion of tradition by
peões and the MTG.
The gaúchos of the campanha countryside, the
peões and small ranchers usually do not use tradition
or related notions to explain their being in the world.
In fact, during one year of fieldwork I believe I have
never heard a single peão even articulate the word
`tradition´, let alone use it to explain things to me.
When a narrative is constructed, be it in a context of
power relations, or to explain their way of life or their
activities at the ranches, the term campeirismo takes on
the meaning-creation role. Campeirismos, in plural, refers to the set of skills and practical knowledge applied to these horsemen’s way of life. It includes skills
such as riding, taming, lassoing, treating cattle and
sheep diseases, as well as many others. When in a
situation of opposition to other social groups, be it
a landowner or an immigrant, a temporary form of
identity that resembles ethnic identity may come into
play. That happens for instance when original locals
incorporate onto their critique of the more recently
arrived commercial farmers the claim that “they are
gringos, they are not gaúchos like us”. Nevertheless, although the skills may be used as diacritical marks in
interaction, the peões’ experience of the world is mainly skill-centred, and not identity-centred. Skill may
play a role in interactions by supporting an identity
that can stand in opposition to the ethnic identity of
the other, but it commonly has a much stronger role.
It defines the peões’ experience of the world. It organizes social life and ranks social equals, thus further
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What is a Gaúcho? 37
organizing hierarchy. Skills are sometimes used in
discourses and narratives that criticize authority. It is
not tradition, or even an idea of continuity between
the present and a mythical distant past that defines
what it is to be a gaúcho for the peões. To be a gaúcho
is to be proficient at those skills, the campeirismos. It
is so central, that when I first arrived at a particular
estância where I would spend a significant amount of
time, after the landowner told the peão that I would
be staying there, the first thing he asked was: “patrão,
do you want me to teach him all the campeirismos?.”
The distinction between those two different
kinds of uses of the term gaúcho is very elusive, even
to researchers. They appear, at first glance, to be different renderings of the same phenomenon at different levels. This difficulty is a tribute to the work of
the MTG, which put an enormous effort towards
constructing the association, accepted by the population, between the regional identity and the real gaúcho through the myth of the gaúcho. In that sense, the
myth has a living reference, but not in terms of the
consciousness of the people who are that referent.
Or, in other words, the peão sees himself as a gaúcho,
but that is related to his skills and perceived social
value, not with ideas of community, ethnic origin,
shared past or regional identity.
During the second week of May 2006, many of
my friends in Dom Pedrito told me about the rodeo
the following Sunday. I was spending my Saturday
in the estância Santa Marta, and it was the weekend
off of the foreman, Santiago. It was early morning,
and although the sun had been shining for an hour
already, it was still cool, and the mist from the previous night was still clearing. In that countryside, any
approaching vehicle can be heard much earlier than
it can be seen, so when I heard the noise of a small
motorcycle I waited, curious as I had learned to be
while spending time with the peões, about who could
it be. The bike stopped closer than someone would
while waiting for permission to enter the space of the
houses and the barn. A somewhat agitated Santiago
handed the helmet and some money to the driver,
who set off along the dust road. Over the noise of
the bike, he excitedly explained to me that he had
plans to compete in the rodeo, but as his friend from
another estância close by would not be able to take
his horses to the city, he came to fetch them himself.
While at the same time inviting me to watch the rodeo and apologizing for not having time to talk, he
threw a sheepskin over a semi-tamed horse’s back,
put on the briddle and rode to the fields with amazing dexterity at an overwhelming speed. In no time at
all, by some well-orchestrated movements -running
his horse over the ones he wanted to guide to the
corral, cutting off their escape route and generally
outwitting them- two mares were secured. The third
one, a young horse (potro), gave him a lot more work,
and for some time, from the slightly higher ground
where I was standing I could see a furious galloping
across a vast stretch of pasture, dust unsettled by the
hoofs of the potro and the pursuing horse ridden by a
skilled gaúcho using no stirrups or saddle. Although I
considered it an amazing show of skill, I could see he
was a little embarrassed by having been left behind by
the horse a couple of times. I asked him if he would
be able to get to the rodeo on time, considering that
it usually took me half an hour´s driving to get from
the estância to the town. He told me he knew many
ways through the fields, and that he could cover the
distance, at a gallop, in the same thirty minutes.
In the afternoon I went back to watch the rodeo,
which was being held in a place just outside the town,
not far from the road. There were many cars parked
close to the large corral, and an even bigger number
of horses. Families had arranged folding chairs under
the shade of the trees, while many mounted men, and
some mounted women and children, were watching
the rodeo from the other side. The fenced area where
the competitions take place was rectangular, and both
the shaded and opposite sides gave fairly good views
of both the lasso and the bronco riding competitions.
Under the trees other activities were being carried
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out. There was a small bar, working from a wooden
shed, and from there I could hear a group making
music with a guitar and an accordion, cut from time
to time by the yells and calls of a larger group playing
the taba game4 for money, with its number oscillating
between fifteen and twenty five men between players, onlookers and the referee. Other small groups of
men in traditional gaúcho clothes gathered in different
spots, while the women and families tended to drink
mate seated on folding chairs facing the corral.
Leisure in the countryside has become scarcer,
opening a gap partially occupied by these rodeos and
other activities organized closer to urban areas, to
which the horsemen have to travel often covering relatively large distances if they want to attend. It may
be related to the depopulation of the rural areas in
Brazil since the 1950s and especially the 1960s. The
public for these activities has moved from the countryside to the city fringes, and so the rodeo has followed. Nevertheless, I believe it is related as well to
a loss of importance of the countryside in the state’s
policies, in the face of the increasing centralization
of the state’s bureaucracy in the promoted urban areas. This trend follows the structural reorganization
of the State with Vargas’ centralist government, and
its further centralization following the military coup
of 1964. This centralization was accompanied by a
partial withdrawal of the State from the countryside.
Seu Bruno told me that land has reached a high
value in the region. Combined with the increased difficulty in making a living in the countryside, small
ranchers can barely survive. Their sons and daughters
want to spend their time in the city to attend the balls.
Leisure has moved from the countryside to
town. Those living in the countryside need to visit
the city if they want to attend a ball, watch or participate in a rodeo, or generally eat and drink out.
4
Similar to knucklebones, but with the difference that only one
bone is involved, the Jogo do Osso or taba game is common in
the Campanha of Rio Grande do Sul and in the Argentinean
grasslands. The contenders bet on the side of the talus bone
that will land upwards after a throw.
article
Rodeos are the celebration of gaúcho skills.
Although they have been promoted by the MTG as
a celebration of the mythological gaúcho so admired
and emulated, most of the riders taking part are very
real, flesh and bones, gaúchos. A large part of the contenders in a rodeo are peões, coming from estâncias in
every corner of the municipality where the competition is being held.
On one occasion I was accompanying a rancher
in a short drive to borrow an electric bandsaw that
we would use to cut up an ox that had been slaughtered the previous day. He introduced me to Onório,
a peão he had good relations with. He told me humorously beforehand that Onório was given to big
talk (falador): “just give him rope and listen to him.”
Onório quickly became interested in the fact that
I was involved in a research project, and started to
show his knowledge, always asking “does the mister
know what that is?”, promptly followed by an explanation of everything he thought I had a chance of not
knowing, so he could amuse me with his knowledge
of strange things for an urban eye. One of the things
he wanted me to guess the use for was a stationary
cow (vaca parada), which I knew, but nevertheless let
him explain it was a frame made from wood and
other odds and ends, comprising a body and a head
that the gaúchos use to simulate a cow in dismounted
lasso training. Kids start lassoing a vaca parada, and
peões can play with the lasso when not in the fields.
José, another peão I know, told me that he lost jobs
in many estâncias because the patrões do not like rodeo
men. They fear they may practice lassoing on running calves, possibly injuring the animals. He had,
according to himself, lost many jobs because he liked
rodeos too much.
It is these peões that constitute the main competitors in the rodeos of towns like Dom Pedrito.
Although the MTG appropriated the rodeo as part
of its promotion of Gaúcho regional identity and its
interpretation of gaúcho traditions, with support if not
participation of the state and other institutions linked
(con)textos (2010) 4:23-41, ISSN: 2013-0864
© de l’article, Luciano Campelo Bornholdt
© de l’edició, Dept. d’Antropologia Cultural i Història d’Amèrica i Àfrica de la Universitat de Barcelona
What is a Gaúcho? 39
to certain elites, the peões managed to appropriate it
back, at least partially, as a promotion of their own
skill, one of the strongest values and most important
definers of what it is to be a gaúcho in their worldview.
This is one of the major reasons for the popularity
the Traditionalist movement managed to gain in the
land of the real gaúcho.
Gaúcho, in its sense of a regional identity, is the
product of very complex interactions between particular elite groups and other groups in Riograndian
society. It is closely related to certain projects of
domination promoted by certain groups in the state
of Rio Grande do Sul, and it is also a response to
a nationalization process promoted by the Brazilian
government. At the same time, the term gaucho holds
a different meaning for the rural ranch hands of the
Campanha Gaúcha. For them, being a gaúcho is defined
mainly by the proficiency in a certain set of skills.
The different possible meanings of the term gaucho
are thus, as I showed, closely related the processes of
domination to which the population of Rio Grande
do Sul has been subjected at a State level.
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What is a Gaúcho? 41
Resumo
O gaúcho foi promovido a ícone estadual, e aparece associado ao Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. O gaúcho icônico,
mitológico, foi inspirado -com certas liberdades- nos peões
gaúchos da Campanha Gaúcha próxima às fronteiras brasileiras com as pampas argentina e uruguaia. Paralelamente,
o projeto de dominação de longa duração promovido pela
elite regional eficientemente fez com que estes gaúchos se
tornassem dependentes da mesma.
Tomando parte na discussão sobre identidades nacionais e
Resum
regionais no Brasil, assim como na discussão mais ampla
El gaúcho ha estat promogut com a icona estatal, i apareix
sobre identidades e construção de tradições, este artigo
associat a l’Estat de Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. El gaúcho
analisa as dinâmicas da ideologia da elite no contexto de
icònic, mitològic, es va inspirar -vagament- en els peons
complexos processos de dominação em diferentes níveis.
gaúchos de la Campanha Gaúcha propera a la frontera
Toma parte na discussão acerca da articulação entre Estado,
brasilera amb les pampes argentines i uruguaianes. Para-
diferentes elites regionais e distintos estratos da população
lelament, el projecte de dominació a llarg termini promogut
do Sul do Brasil.
per les elits regionals va aconseguir que els gaúchos en
[GAÚCHOS, BRASIL, IDENTIDADES, ELITES, DOMINAÇÃO]
depenguessin.
En el marc de les discussions sobre les identitats nacionals
i regionals al Brasil, així com de les consideracions més
Resumen
àmplies sobre identitat i construcció de la tradició, aquest
El gaúcho fue promovido como icono estatal, y aparece
article analitza les dinàmiques de la ideologia d’elit en el
asociado al Estado de Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. El gaúcho
context de complexos processos de dominació en diferents
icónico, mitológico, se inspiró –vagamente- en los peones
nivells. Participa en les discussions sobre l’articulació entre
gaúchos de la Campanha Gaúcha, próxima a la frontera
l’Estat, diferents elits regionals i diversos estrats de la
brasileña con las pampas argentinas y uruguayas. Parale-
població del Sud del Brasil.
lamente, el proyecto de dominación a largo plazo promovido
[GAÚCHOS, BRASIL, IDENTITATS, ELITS, DOMINACIÓ]
por las elites élites regionales logró que los gaúchos dependieran de ellas.
En el marco de las discusiones sobre las identidades nacionales y regionales en Brasil, así como de las consideraciones
más amplias sobre identidad y construcción de la tradición,
este artículo analiza las dinámicas de la ideología de elite
élite en el contexto de complejos procesos de dominación
en diferentes niveles. Participa en las discusiones sobre la
articulación entre el Estado, diferentes élites regionales y
distintos estratos de la población del sur de Brasil.
[GAÚCHOS, BRASIL, IDENTIDADES, ÉLITES, DOMINACIÓN]
(con)textos (2010) 4:23-41, ISSN: 2013-0864
© de l’article, Luciano Campelo Bornholdt
© de l’edició, Dept. d’Antropologia Cultural i Història d’Amèrica i Àfrica de la Universitat de Barcelona